John Kasich’s advice on how to avoid being raped

John Kasich is making news this week for a spectacularly unhelpful suggestion he made to women about not getting raped.

During a recent town hall, a female college student asked Kasich how he would help her “feel safer and more secure regarding sexual violence, harassment and rape” if he became president. Kasich started off well: he spoke about reporting, rape kit accessibility, and being able to speak to someone confidentially. Then he said this:

I would also give you one bit of advice-don’t go to parties where there’s a lot of alcohol.

And the sexual abuse report says that there has been, since 2006, a 64% increase in violent sexual assaults. Now, what did they expect? These people are in close contact, the whole airing of this issue has never been done by Congress, it’s strictly been a question of pressure from the feminist.

What did they (women in the military) expect?

You can’t prance around in your extremely attractive BDUs, and not expect to get raped, because men are rapists. You can’t go to a party where there might be alcohol, because men are rapists. Heck, even high schools are jumping on the men can’t control themselves around exposed shoulders, or collarbones, or knees bandwagon with puritanical dress codes for girls. Only girls. We ladies seem to have a much better grip on our rapiness, I guess.

The best way to stop rape is to educate both men and women about rape. Rape is about power, not sex. Elderly women are raped in their homes, children are raped, women rape men, women rape women, men rape women, men rape men. Rape has nothing to do with lust, or attraction; rape is about destroying another human being. And telling a first-year college student not to go to parties where there’s alcohol is demeaning to both women and men.

If a person is drunk, it does not give someone permission to rape them. Heck, if a person is walking stark naked down the street, it does not give someone permission to rape them. Instead of insinuating that all men are rapists, and all women need to live their lives desperately afraid of every situation, how about we start teaching about sexual assault in middle school? Teach boys and girls that no means no, teach them about boundaries, and what sexual harassment is, and to respect one another. Start weaning our society off misogyny, sexism, prison rape jokes. States need to stop charging rape victims for their own rape kits.

At least John Kasich supports exceptions to abortion for victims of rape and incest. Sort of. He’s infamous for his 17 antiabortion measures, “pro-life” groups adore him, and he hates Planned Parenthood. Ohio law requires women seeking abortions to receive “counseling,” and imposes a waiting period. Even for rape and incest victims. So while Kasich claims he supports women, he tells them to avoid parties where alcohol might be present, forces them to wait for an abortion, and prohibits rape and incest victims from getting an abortion after 24-28 weeks.

Ladies (and gents), this is rape culture. Assuming that all men are rapists, and it’s completely up to women to stop rape. We can’t drink, we must dress modestly so men don’t get all rapey, if we get pregnant, we really shouldn’t be able to exercise our right to choose (just ask Ted Cruz), and if we join the military, we should expect to be raped.

Conservatives want to limit our access to contraception and abortion, and tell us all the things we women need to do in order to avoid being raped, because all men are rapists, but if we get raped, we might have to pay for our own rape kit, if we get pregnant, we have to carry to term, and in many states, our rapist can sue for visitation.